Rachel Crader is the editor of semoball.com. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in May of 2009 before spending the summer covering the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Highlights from Rachel's days in college include having a class down the hall from Chase Daniel and having NCAA wrestling champion Ben Askren hold the door open for her at Brady Commons, Mizzou's student center. She spent time covering Mizzou basketball, softball and baseball while working for the Columbia Missourian and is excited to return home to Southeast Missouri to cover local sports for semoball.com.

Rachel has covered three Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournaments for the Southeast Missourian and semoball.com, and she'll see you courtside again this year.

On Otto: Georgetown assistant familiar with Southeast Missouri

Posted Tuesday, April 12, 2011, at 8:00 PM

I woke up this morning to multiple tweets (You can follow me on Twitter: @semoball) suggesting that Scott County Central star Otto Porter had committed to Georgetown.

(Yes, it was 11 a.m. Yes, I consider that early. Too early. Sue me.)

A short time later I had confirmation from SCC coach Kenyon Wright that the rumor was true. Porter has told Wright he will play for the Hoyas next season.

This ends a longer-than-most recruitment process for Porter, who was one of just three players in the ESPNU Top 100 that had yet to commit to a college.

I have not had a chance to talk to Porter today, and I rather doubt that I will. He already is on his way to North Carolina where he will be participating in the Jordan Brand Classic on Saturday.

However, I already had some time scheduled to talk to Porter next week when he returns from the Jordan game. A series of stories about Porter that I've been working on on and off for months at this point will begin running a week from Sunday on April 24 in the Southeast Missourian.

Eric Bossi, a national basketball recruiting analyst for rivals.com according to his Twitter profile, wrote that Georgetown assistant Robert Kirby was "big" in bringing Porter to the Hoyas.

Kirby's name may look familiar to diehard Three Rivers Community College basketball fans. The Georgetown athletic website says Kirby was a freshman at TRCC when the Raiders won a national championship in 1979 and that he helped the them to a fifth-place finish in 1980.

This would mean Kirby missed out on playing with Porter's father, Otto Porter Sr., at TRCC by just one season. According to Southeast Missourian article I hunted down in the archives, the elder Porter played one season at TRCC in 1977-78 before moving on to Southeast Missouri State (after a short stop at Marymount College in Salina, Kansas). He scored 31 points in his SEMO debut on Dec. 28 1979 after sitting out a season, I suppose. The story from our archives says he stayed at Marymount for just a few practices.

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Wow, Marymount. I did not know that. Back in the 60's when I was at a JUCO in Kansas, Marymount was primarily, if not totally, a girl's school. I need to do some research on this one. I have read that Otto Sr. and Coach Kirby, a Memphis native, have known each other personally for years and I am sure that he was the key to Otto Jr.'s recruitment.

-- Posted by hoopsguru on Wed, Apr 13, 2011, at 11:30 PM

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